Hillary Clinton, Coming to Theaters Near You by 2016

By Zara Kessler -
May 3, 2013

First, there was "Lincoln," the Steven Spielberg hit about the political ingenuity of a man who was president 150 years ago.

Then, there was "Obama," the spoof at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, about the man who is president now. ("I mean the guy's already a lame duck," Spielberg says in the clip. "So why wait?")

Heck, why even wait to be president. Now there's "Rodham."

That's right, "Rodham," not "Clinton." The film -- "script," more accurately -- depicts Hillary Rodham in her 20s. Viewers will watch Rodham, the youngest attorney on the House Judiciary Committee, try to balance preparations for the impeachment of Richard Nixon with her long-distance relationship with a charming young man from Arkansas.

Written by Young Il Kim, the screenplay made some waves a few months ago when it earned the No. 4 slot on Hollywood's "Black List," which polls film executives about their favorite scripts. It's still up in the air who will play Hillary -- not Meryl Streep, director James Ponsoldt said in an interview with Politico (perhaps she can play the ghost of Hillary Future).

Those involved insist the movie is not about politics. “There’s no official release date yet, but I’m thinking sometime within the next couple of years — 2016 or before,” said Ponsoldt, whose father worked in the Justice Department in the period the film covers. “The timing has nothing to do with presidential election cycles, it’s just the cycle of the movie.”

That's right: 2016 is just a number.

“I think if you strip away all the polarizing politics, at her core she’s still that person who genuinely cares for people without a voice,” Kim told the New York Daily News back in January. “I wanted to capture the moment before she loses that innocence."

In reminding America of Hillary's bright future -- even before she added Clinton to her name -- it may also point out that perhaps she sacrificed something when she married. Something she might get back, around, say, 2016.

(Zara Kessler is an assistant editor and producer for Bloomberg View. Follow her on Twitter.)